Shopsmith Forums

Ed in Tampa wrote: ↑Sat Aug 14, 2021 10:09 am Whatever you do be careful, my neighbors son had a compressor in the garage. It developed an air leak and turned on while they were out for the evening. When they came home they found their house engulfed in fire. Apparently the compressor in trying to over come the leak ran until it got so hot that the stuff around it caught fire and burnt the house down. Pretty expensive silent compressor. I now keep my compressor off and disconnected to all air lines.

That's a big reason I added a remote switch. Before I even made the box I wanted a remote switch because if I left the compressor on unintentionally it would always start up between 2:00AM and 3:30AM and I'd have to get something on my feet and get down to the basement to shut it off. I sealed up fittings pretty well to decrease the frequency of such events but once it was in the box I didn't want to worry about going out and leaving the compressor on. So now I have the remote switch upstairs and part of locking up the house when everyone will be out is to switch off the compressor with the remote.

As noted above fresh air circulation is needed. I have an 11" fan (or 9" maybe?) pushing fresh air in through a furnace type filter so the compressor is getting clean filtered air, and a set of baffles made from ceiling tiles for an exhaust port opening. The only problem is that the fan is on whenever the remote outlet for the compressor is on. Eventually I'll wire that through the compressor's power circuit.

Here is a quiet air compressor from Amazon that has a 56 dB range.

https://www.amazon.com/California-Air-T ... 077CNLPBC/

Here is one guy with pretty decent pros and cons on quiet air compressors. Besides from California Air Tools the site also has pros and cons for other compressors such as Rolair, Metabo, Excel.

https://toolminer.com/best-quiet-air-compressor/

Although, Ed in Tampa has told really good info on not to leave your compressor powered on while you're doing something else.

Man, that's scary... Your whole home turns to ash...

I would definitely say a quiet compressor is the most preferable option. If your compressor doesn't sound like a herd of cattle stampeding across a metal roof then you may not need any other means of sound reduction.

Piston air compressors are much quieter than diaphragm compressors. Years ago I had a 20 gallon vertical Craftsman compressor. It absolutely screamed. I replaced it with a 4 cylinder 30 gallon Quincy. The Quincy is much quieter than the Craftsman was.

That's a nice looking Quincy! What are the airflow specs?

GentlemanAdventurer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 2:15 am That's a nice looking Quincy! What are the airflow specs?

It is 21 CFM at 40 PSI and 18 CFM at 90 PSI. It has a 5 HP Baldor motor at 3450 RPM but the compressor pump runs at 900 RPM so it is pretty quiet.

Thanks JS

I too can recommend California as a very quiet line of air compressors. I had one from HF for years that would make me jump whenever it turned on. When it finally died, I was so pleased that I replaced it with a California model. I’m not at home right now so I can’t tell you the specific model that I have but I think their entire line features similar quiet metrics.

I have one that is horizontal (Porter Cable, 150 psi) and it has never let me down. When changing tyres, it works excellent with a torque wrench, and filling the tyres is a breeze. The only issue I had was a connection leak between the hose and the compressor, but that was due to me ripping out the old line and replacing it with one that didn't quite fit. Wrap insulating tape across the threading for an easy remedy. They easily fit onto shelves and are not in the way. If you only need it for modest work that necessitates the use of a compressor, a $100 horizontal will suffice.

Harbor Freight has a quiet series of compressors. They pump a lot of air & are relatively quiet. I am pleased with mine.